


In the End, All that Matters

by LourdesDeath



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Christianity, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Happy Ending, Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-06 22:20:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19071835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LourdesDeath/pseuds/LourdesDeath
Summary: Tina and Farah try to protect each other after being kidnapped by religious fanatics.





	In the End, All that Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a translation of the Spanish version 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias.
> 
> Thanks to flightinflame for standing by me forever <3

Tina leans against Farah, wrapping her arms around her gently. “We’re gonna be okay,” she says quietly. “We’ll get out of here.”

Farah’s eyes are wide in the dark room as she stares at the tiny, barred window. “How?” She looks about ready to shake out of her skin from anxiety. 

It can’t be easy for her. Tina knows how bad it can be, when everything feels like a threat. Her answer had always been to turn to drugs, but she’s trying to be better for Farah. 

Farah’s never touched drugs, hardly even drinks. She tries to tackle her fears by working, by being strong. 

But that doesn’t help when they’re locked in a room by whatever group of weirdos Todd and Dirk upset  _ this  _ time. 

“How long have we been here?” Tina asks, glancing at the window. 

“About 26 hours,” Farah answers. Her internal clock is spookily accurate, unlike Tina’s own.

Sighing, Tina leans closer. She thought they’d be rescued in under twenty minutes, that Dirk and Todd would burst in with a hyper intelligent robot or mechanical dragon or something, but the only evidence of there even being other people here has been occasional, quiet noises outside the door.

Tina presses her lips to Farah’s cheek. There’s not much she can do, she wasn’t even armed when they were kidnapped. One of the people had held a knife to Tina’s throat as they took all of Farah’s weapons before they were both handcuffed and thrown into a van. 

It’s weird to know that Farah’s unarmed right now. Even at night, Farah’s always within arm’s reach of something she can use to protect herself. 

“Babe?” Tina says when Farah doesn’t respond to the kiss. 

Farah shakes her head a little and turns to her. “Sorry, just… Don’t know what to do.” 

Tina pulls her close. “We’ll figure something out. I trust you.” 

“I couldn’t keep you safe,” Farah replies. “What’s the point of—of training and planning if… if they can do this and—”

“Woah, babe,” Tina cradles Farah’s face between her hands. “This isn’t your fault. You did everything you could to protect me. I didn’t even have a gun—” 

“But you—you—” Farah gasps for breath. 

Tina touches a finger to Farah’s lips. “Can you take a deep breath for me?” 

Farah blinks and breathes in, out. 

“I’m not upset or anything,” Tina says. “And I know you’ll get us out of this. Or Dirk and Todd will. We’ll be fine.” She leans in and kisses Farah, trying to put all her trust and love for Farah in the gesture. 

The door opens and Farah jerks away, pushing Tina away from the door. 

A blonde woman walks in, wearing a white dress with pink flowers that’s completely out of place in the dingy little room. 

“That’s disgusting,” the woman says. “I know we’re supposed to be holding you here ‘cause of that weird detective guy, but I can’t believe people like  _ you  _ are here.” 

“Let us out,” Farah replies, ignoring her words.

The woman laughs. “Like I’m going to let you out  _ now _ . I have a friend who would  _ love  _ to fix you. Maybe you’ll stop helping that detective guy  _ and  _ stop sinning.” 

Tina’s heart drops. She tries to avoid places where she’ll meet homophobes, and doesn’t watch things with people like that either. It’s hard in small towns, but there are so few people in Bergsberg that she doesn’t have to worry, not to mention that Hobbs won’t stand for it. 

“One of you is coming with me,” the woman says. “I don’t have space for both of you in my car right now, but don’t worry, we’ll get the other one later.” 

Farah starts to stand up and Tina grabs her arm. 

“No!” 

Farah turns. “I’m not letting them hurt you,” she says. 

“But she’ll hurt  _ you _ .” 

“That’s better than—”

Tina shakes her head. “If anyone can get us out of here, it’s you. If you get hurt we’re both screwed.”

“I’m not waiting here forever.” The woman crosses her arms. “It’s not like it matters, we’re gonna fix both of you.” 

Tina stands up before Farah can move. “I’ll be okay,” she says to Farah. “It can’t be worse than rehab, right?” 

“Tina—”

“Love you,” Tina interrupts, wanting to tell Farah just in case. 

The woman grabs Tina’s arm and pulls her out of the room, slamming the door behind them and bolting it shut. Tina hears Farah shouting and banging on the door on the other side, and tries not to be scared as the woman takes her outside. 

There’s a little car parked near the building. 

The woman pulls a small gun from her purse. “You better not try and fight. I can always have someone come back and deal with that… woman, if she can even be called that.” 

“She’s my girlfriend,” Tina says. 

“Not for long.” 

She shoves Tina into the passenger seat car and gets into the driver’s seat. 

Tina looks out the window as they drive, thinking about Farah. She knows Farah’s probably more panicked than ever now, but she didn’t want Farah hurt. 

The woman pulls up outside a large house. 

“You stay here.” 

Tina watches as she gets out of the car and walks up to the house, using her key fob to lock the car doors. There’s a man standing outside the house, who the woman talks to before walking inside, so Tina doesn’t dare try to unlock the car doors. 

It’s not long before the woman comes back outside, a small group of men and women following her. At the front is a man wearing a black shirt and one of the weird scarf things that priests wear. 

The woman unlocks the door and the man in the black shirt opens the door beside Tina. 

“Oh, Janine,” he says to the woman, “I can  _ feel  _ the sin coming off of this one.” 

Janine grins. “I caught her sinning, and I knew you could help to save her soul.” 

“Stand up, my child,” the man says. 

Tina does as he says, not wanting to risk getting Farah hurt if she doesn’t. 

“Now, we’ll try a cleansing first,” the man muses to the crowd. “But if they don’t work I’m sure there are some male parishioners who would love to help with your problem.” 

Several of the men in the crowd leer at Tina, a few of them laugh. 

Tina knows she has to be strong, for Farah’s sake if not for her own, even as she’s dragged into the house. 

There are crosses, statues, and paintings on almost every surface inside. Tina thinks she’s seen some of the pictures before, and knows they’re all religious even if she doesn’t know the exact context of all of them. 

She’s brought to a large room with lines of chairs. The crowd of people all sit down as Janine and the man in the black shirt bring Tina to the front. 

“First, we have to exorcise the sin from her!” He pulls Tina to what looks like a large covered box. He pulls off the cover and reveals it to be a pool of water about the size of a small bathtub. 

“May this holy water expel her demons!” 

The man pushes Tina forward. She trips and falls over the side of the pool, splashing into the water. Tina tries to stand back up but someone puts a hand on her back and keeps her head submerged. 

She struggles against them, but she can feel another person behind her, holding her flailing arms, a third person grabbing her legs. 

Tina gasps without thinking, water filling her nose and mouth. She tries to scream, but it’s muffled by the water. 

There’s another noise beyond that, someone else shouting. Tina wonders what’s being said, if they’re actually trying to kill her. 

She tries to use the calming techniques she talks Farah through, counting down from ten and imagining somewhere safe and calm. It doesn’t help with how she’s choking, but at least she calms down enough to stop trying to inhale. 

What seems like an hour later, someone pulls her back up. Tina coughs up water, knowing she would be vomiting if she had eaten in the last day. 

She’s thrown to the ground, where she keeps gagging, water spilling from her nose and mouth.

“Even her body tries to reject the salvation of Jesus!” the man shouts above her. “The devil has infected her with sin!” 

The crowd erupts with noise, shouting at the man to purify her, rid her of sin, remove Satan from her. 

“Reject the devil!” 

Tina thinks about Farah, about how she’s the best thing in Tina’s life, even better than Hobbs. How can she reject that? How could she even  _ pretend  _ not to love Farah? 

She shakes her head. 

“The devil is strong! But God is stronger!” 

The man keeps shouting, talking about how Tina is a Jezebel, a whore of Satan, unworthy of the love of God. Tina tries to block it out, only halfway succeeding. 

He asks her again if she rejects the devil. 

“No,” Tina croaks, her throat still hurting from coughing up water. 

“Janine, you were right to bring her here,” he says. “”I’m afraid she’ll need more than this to be cleansed.” He looks out over the crowd. “Damian?” 

A man in the crowd stands up. “Yes, Pastor Jameson?” 

“I know you haven’t found a pure young lady. How would you like this one as a wife? I’m sure you could help heal her.” 

Tina curls in on herself. “N-No. That’s… No!” 

“This is your one chance for salvation,” Janine tells her. “I wouldn’t squader if it I was you.” 

“No!” 

“Well I can always go back and get your friend. Maybe Damian will like her, even with her… faults.” 

Tina stares at her. She doesn’t want this. But Farah’s not interested in men, doesn’t have any experience with them, and Tina doesn’t want to put her through that. 

She has to be strong, for Farah. 

Tina looks at the ground, too scared to do anything else. Two women grab her arms and drag her out of the room and up a flight of stairs. Tina whimpers when she realizes they’ve brought her to a bedroom. 

“Damian will be a wonderful husband for you,” one of them says. “He knows how to keep people in line.” 

They shove Tina onto the bed and pull on her clothes. Tina tries to fight them, scared of what she knows will come next. 

They’re trying to take off her shirt when there’s a roaring noise outside and the entire house shakes. The women look at each other and release Tina to run over to the window. 

“What in the world?” one of them says. 

The door bursts open. Tina half expects it to be someone coming to rescue her but Damian walks in. 

“Ladies,” he says to the women. “There’s some kind of people trying to break in, Pastor Jameson says it’s all hands on deck. I’ll deal with the wife.” 

Tina cowers away from him as the women leave the room and Damian steps forward. He grins, reaching into his pockets. 

“You know this is all for your own good so just sit back and enjoy the ride.” 

“This won’t help me,” Tina replies. 

Damian pulls out a knife. “Of course it will.”

She tenses as he comes forward. Damian is bigger than her, but she’s been training with Farah in self defense, and there’s never been a better time to put it into practice. Tina just hopes she can make Farah proud. 

Damian gets within reach, holding the knife towards her. Tina grabs his wrist with both hands, her arms shaking as she tries to stop him moving. He jerks, nearly pulling his arm from Tina’s grasp, and she shifts her grip, pushing his arm to the side with her left hand while her right hand moves to his shoulder. 

Tina doesn’t give him time to think, kneeing him in the groin. Damian makes a choking noise and drops the knife, his knees going out under him. 

She grabs the knife as Damian coughs on the floor, holding his crotch. 

“Don’t come near me again,” Tina says, point the knife at him. She doesn’t want to kill him—she’d much rather see him in prison or getting the shit beaten out of him by Farah—but she knows she might not have a choice. 

Someone shouts downstairs and she hears guns firing. Tina doesn’t know who’s downstairs or if they’ll try to hurt her too, but she doesn’t trust Damian to not attack her if she turns her back on him. 

She backs up until she feels a corner behind her. 

Listening to the noise downstairs is terrible in a way. She wants to know what’s happening, wants to know if she’s being rescued, if Farah’s been found. 

Damian starts to move after a few minutes. Tina waits for him to attack again, but he stays on the floor, apparently listening to the fighting as well. 

The doorknob jiggles, making them both tense, but the door doesn’t open. Something bangs against it once, twice, and breaks open after the third time. 

Tina holds up the knife, ready to fight again if it’s that pastor or the women, and drops it with shock when it’s Farah that shoves the door open. 

Farah checks the room, holding a gun up in what Tina calls her Badass Mode. “Tina, you okay?” she asks. 

“I… I’m fine,” Tina lies. She wants nothing more than to curl up in their bed and cry for about three days, but she isn’t injured or anything. 

Damian shifts on the floor and Farah points her gun at him. 

“You’re the one who Janine caught her with aren’t you?” he says. “We try to give you a chance and this is how you thank us?” He stands up, not caring about the danger he’s clearly in. “Don’t act like a bitch like you could take me down,” he says and takes a step forward. “You’re just a whore.” 

“Farah, look out!” Tina shouts, but Farah’s already moving, tossing her gun away when Damian grabs for it and blocking his punches. She curls a leg around his and kicks at his knees, sending him back to the ground, and shoves his shoulder so she can get her left arm around his neck. She tucks her hand into her right elbow, keeping him in place. 

“I’m not ‘just’ anything,” she says. “No woman is. But  _ you  _ are ‘just’ a misogynistic homophobe, and a weak one at that.” 

Damian struggles, but it’s no use. Tina steps out of the corner and grabs Farah’s gun, guarding the door until she sees someone coming up the stairs. 

Tina holds up the gun when she sees movement. The woman pauses in the hallway, holding her hands up. Tina notices that she isn’t in a dress like the women from before, but in a dark grey jacket and skinny jeans, and holding a baseball bat. 

“Farah, are you okay?” The woman says. 

“We’re fine, but we’ve got another one up here,” Farah responds. 

Tina shuffles back into the room and the woman takes a step closer. “Who is she?” 

“I’m Amanda Brotzman, I’m Todd’s sister.” Amanda turns around. “Boys! We got another live one!” 

Tina backs up further as footsteps bang up the stairs and two men come up to stand behind Amanda. 

They’re grinning, but their smiles fall when they look at Tina and, behind her, Farah holding a struggling Damian. 

“We’re not gonna hurt you,” the tall one with a tattoo around his eye says, “but we can deal with… that.” 

“There’s eighteen others downstairs,” the other one adds, playing with the edge of his beanie. 

Tina looks at Farah, who nods, and backs up to sit on the bed. Farah shoves Damian to the ground and the two men catch him, their grins returning but looking significantly more sinister now. 

“We’re all done downstairs,” Amanda tells them as her friends drag Damian out the door. “You guys need a minute?” 

“Yeah,” Farah answers. “But we’ll be down soon.” 

Amanda nods and follows her boys. 

Farah watches her go and sits down beside Tina on the bed, wrapping an arm around her. Tina holds still for a second before she lets herself lean closer, burying her face in Farah’s shoulder. 

“How did they find you?” she asks. 

“They do this… weird smelling thing,” Farah answers with a shrug. “I guess my anxiety was strong enough to get their attention. Did they hurt you?” 

Tina nods, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. Farah’s scent is calming, even when it’s mixed with dirt and just a little blood. 

“I thought… I didn’t know if I’d see you again,” Farah admits. 

“They wouldn’t have let us. They—He was going to—Before you got here—” 

Farah holds her close. “I should have gone instead of you. I should have kept you safe.” 

Tina shakes her head. If she could go back, if she could do it again, she still wouldn’t let Farah be hurt. “You did keep me safe. You taught me how to protect myself. If you hadn’t…” She doesn’t want to think about what would have happened if she hadn’t known what to do. 

Instead, she nuzzles into Farah’s shoulder. 

Farah kisses her hair and whispers under her breath. Tina can just barely hear her counting down from ten, taking a deep breath afterwards, and then counting again. 

“We should go downstairs,” she says after a moment, squeezing Tina for a second. “They’re waiting for us.” 

Tina nods and stands up, taking Farah’s hand as they walk. She doesn’t know if she could handle walking by the people from the crowd on her own. Luckily, the staircase is wide enough for them to be side by side. 

Amanda and her friends are standing by the door. The youngest one is dripping wet, and Tina notices a puddle that comes from the baptismal pool and leads to where he’s standing. 

“You okay?” Amanda asks.

Tina nods and looks around. “Where are the…?” 

One of the men points out the door with his crowbar. 

“Todd said he and Dirk are on their way here,” Amanda says. “I guess there was another group of them. He said they’ve got the cops coming along. He… He said they were helping other kidnapping victims.” 

“We ain’t stickin’ around for the pigs,” the man in glasses says. “Y’all can come along with us for now if you want.” 

Tina steps forward to go with them, following Amanda and her friends. She sees the crowd from before sitting on the ground by one corner of the house, their hands all tied behind them. The pastor and Damian are both lying on the ground, and seem to be unconscious. 

Janine’s face twists with rage when she sees Tina. 

“You whore!” she shouts. “If you knew what was good for you you would have—”

Farah breathes in to reply, but Tina’s already stalking towards her, fists clenched at her sides. 

Tina thinks about punching Janine, thinks about dragging her inside and holding her underwater in the baptismal pool. Hurting her in all the ways that she and Farah were hurt sounds perfect until Tina gets a few feet away from her. 

She sits on the grass, just of reach of Janine. 

“I don’t know why you think that kidnapping people and forcing them to marry rapists is your idea of ‘good for them’,” she says. “I mean, I don’t think that’s something Jesus was really on board with, but I do know that there’s someone I love that I’ll always love, and I don’t think it’s so bad that we’re both women. And I know that if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here to love  _ anyone _ . Maybe you’ve just never had someone like that, and I’m sorry if you haven’t, ‘cause it’s really nice.” 

“You’re disgusting,” Janine replies, her face turned to the side like Tina’s not even worth looking at.

Tina shrugs. “Even if I am, I got someone who loves me anyway. And you’re gonna be arrested once the cops get here, so I think my way’s better.” 

Janine doesn’t reply. 

Tina decides it doesn’t matter. She’s got Farah and they’re both safe. 

Standing up, she walks back over to Farah, who hugs her. 

“I love you so much,” she whispers, leaning in to kiss Tina’s cheek. 

“I love you too.” Tina glances at where Amanda is standing near the black van. “I think… I think we should stay here until Dirk and Todd get here. They’ll probably want witness statements.” 

“If you’re sure,” Amanda says. 

“Wanna beer before we go?” one of Amanda’s friends shouts from the back of the van, holding up two cans. 

Tina laughs but shakes her head. “Come by the station some time and we’ll have a party.”

“What station?” the youngest of the group asks. 

“The Bergsberg police department. I’m the deputy there.” 

“You’re our kinda cop then,” the tallest man says, putting one of beers back into a cooler. 

“Todd’s got our number,” Amanda says, stepping into the van and taking the second beer from her friend. “But don’t call on his phone ‘cause I won’t answer.” 

“See ya around!” Tina waves as the van door closes, and rests her head on Farah’s shoulder as they drive away. 

When they can no longer hear the rumbling of the van’s engine, Farah leads her back towards the house to sit on the front step. 

“Do we tell them we took out all those people on our own?” Tina asks when Farah wraps an arm around her shoulders. 

“It’s not… strictly accurate, but I think the Rowdy 3 would prefer us saying that.”

“You probably  _ could _ .”

Farah rolls her eyes. “Did Todd tell you I’m James Bond? I’m  _ not  _ James Bond.” 

“Of course you’re not James Bond! You could totally kick his ass. You’re like… a superheroine. Like… if Peggy Carter and Okoye had a lovechild, it’d be you.” 

Farah smiles a little, her shoulders hunching like she’s embarrassed by the compliment, so Tina kisses her to help her feel better. Farah leans into the kiss, cupping Tina’s cheek with one hand. 

She presses their foreheads together when they part, their noses bumping together. 

“You know,” Farah says, “I wouldn’t be here without you, either.” She takes Tina’s hand and places it over the scar of one of her bullet wounds from their fight with the mage. “You saved me.” 

“I’m glad I did.” 

“You’re my hero,” Farah says. 

Tina kisses her again, hearing sirens in the distance. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on tumblr!](lourdesdeath.tumblr.com)


End file.
